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ELEUSIS 


A   POEM 


bTiftLoq  bang  iduv  keIv'  ela'  vtto  x^ov'  • 

olds  uev  piov  reXevTCLVj 
oldev  6k  dtoadoTov  apxnv. 

— PINDAK. 


UNIVERC,..  .    , 

OF  y 


CHICAGO 

1890 


Copyrighted,  A.  D.  1890. 


DEDICATED   TO 

W.  H.  S. 


159332 


Eleusis  mourns  beside  the  sea, 

Her  secret  pomp  of  worship  fled ; 
But,  though  her  priest  and  rite  he  dead, 

Still  lives  the  Eternal  Mystery. 

Nor  can  the  Eleusinia  die: 

What  though  the  centuries  wax  and  wane, 
From  each  new  age  sounds  out  again 

The  Eternal  Questioning,  Whence  and  Why  f 


CANTO   1. 


PRELUDE. 


O  Life  !  resplendent  breaks  thy  morn ; 
And  Youth  speeds  on  with  rosy  lip, 
From  brimming  bowls  of  joy  to  sip, 

Or  empty  Pleasure's  drinking-horn. 

O'er  sunny  plains,  by  singing  streams, 
Through  years  that  seem  a  holiday, 
He  flies,  hope-pinioned,  on  his  way 

Toward  the  palace  of  his  dreams. 

At  morn  a  child,  the  noon-tide  sun 

On  limbs  more  stalwart  looketh  down ; 
And  soon  his  setting  glories  crown 

A  staff-supported  skeleton. 

The  silent  halls  one  more  receive. 

To  swell  their  store  of  voiceless  guests ; 
The  heir  is  master  of  bequests. 

And  even  Love  forgets  to  grieve. 


10  Beusis 

A  play  whose  acts  but  triply  change, 
And  progress  simple  to  its  close ; 
Yet  more  than  triply  charged  with  woes, 

And  grief's  broad  range  and  counter-range. 

And  what  beyond  ?     Does  Death  overrule 
The  vanished  genius  of  the  clay, 
Dissolve  the  soul,  and  one  decay 

Embrace  philosopher  and  fool  ? 

Such  doubts  and  problems  haunt  the  brain, 
In  youth  or  age  of  every  man  ; 
And,  stifle  them  as  best  we  can. 

They  press  insistent  back  again. 

Their  ghostly  spectres  mock  and  frown ; 
No  Nostradamus  knows  the  spell, 
Nor  book  nor  wise  exorcist's  bell 

Can  thrust  their  taunting  phantoms  down. 

Oh,  how  above  the  funeral  urn  , 

Their  pinions  hover ;  arid  we  feel, 
.  As  tears  their  deepest  founts  unseal, 
That  life  is  mystery  to  its  kern  I 


Eleusis  1 1 

Their  solemn  silence  bringeth  fear, 

And  passionate  will  kneels  clown  in  dread ; 
For,  standing  by  the  sleeping  dead. 

We  know  eternal  forms  are  near. 

It  may  be  bootless  task,  in  sooth. 
To  grapple  with  diviner  things. 
Proclaim  us  priests  as  well  as  kings. 

And  seek  the  mystic  source  of  Truth, 

Yet  fly  the  search  and  shirk  the  test ! 

In  flight,  contentment  who  can  find  ? 

The  deeper  yearnings  of  the  mind 
Cannot  be  lightly  lulled  to  rest. 

If  life  be  fate,  if  worlds  advance 
Self-driven  on  their  axles  steep. 
Our  lives  are  accidents,  we  leap 

At  dying  to  the  arms  of  chance,— 

Then  joy  and  pain  are  phantoms  too ; 

To  love  is  sweet  illusive  spell ; 

And  all  the  thoughts  that  surge  and  swell 
Within  our  souls,  are  most  untrue. 


12  Beusis 

So  life  were  false,  and  hope  a  lie ; 
The  higher  life  for  which  we  long 
Only  a  mocking  siren-song 

To  lure  and  lead  us  on  to  die. 

O  Life,  to  me  thyself  sublhne ; 
Reveal  me  why  I  came  to  be, 
And  let  my  soul,  though  dimly,  see 

The  secret  horoscope  of  Time ! 


CANTO   I. 


I. 

No  WHEEL  may  turn  forever  round, 
Nor  bell  forever  strike  and  swing : 
The  broken  bell  will  cease  to  ring, 

The  wheel  lie  prostrate  on  the  ground. 

The  wearing  waste  of  hopes  and  fears 
Unwinds  the  primal  spring  of  power. 
And  action  weakening  hour  by  hour 

In  slow  suspension  disappears. 

And  so,  grim  cup,  wherein  some  brain 

Has  seethed  and  boiled  with  burning  thought, 
And  to  excess  of  mastery  brought, 

Was  quick  to  measure  loss  and  gain, 

O  Power's  supremest  mock  and  mime. 
Life's  palace  now  forgotten  urn! 
For  thee  no  more  the  wheel  will  turn, — 

The  bell  has  rung  its  dying  chime. 


t4  Beusis 

Yet  whither  gone,  O  Soul  ?     Whence  sprung 
Thy  mighty  mastery  of  the  past  ? 
Dost  wander  homeless,  or  at  last 

Indwell  the  countries  of  the  sun  ? 

Or,  is  this  all,  —  these  empty  eyes. 

This  mockery  grim  of  life's  fair  prime  ? 
Is  this  the  consummate  fruit  of  Time, 

And  the  proud  heirdom  of  the  wise  ? 


Beusis  /5 


n. 


Alas  for  him  whose  harp  outrung 

The  first  low  minor-chord  of  doubt, 
And  gave  that  bitter  keynote  out 

Whereto  uncounted  souls  have  sung. 

Alas  for  him  who,  out  of  tune 

With  the  young  earth's  clear-voiced  refrain, 
Made  tears  the  burden  of  his  strain, 

And  saw  a  clouded  sky  at  noon. 

Alas  for  him  !     Alas  for  me. 

Who  am  the  heir  of  his  emprise ! 

For  heirdom  lives,  though  lordship  dies, 

And  doubt  entails  an  endless  fee. 

Thus  cycles  turning  round  and  round, 
And  years  to  centuries  growing  fast. 
From  out  the  dim  and  vista 'd  past 

Tmnultuous  voices  louder  sound. 


j^^^^ 


1 6  Beusis 

'Till,  ringing  from  the  earth  and  sky, 
The  wide  world  heareth  only  this : 
*  Death  ruleth  Life  ;  Life's  fuller  bliss 
Is  Sleep,  —  its  fullest,  swift  to  die.' 


Eleusis  ly 


III. 

O  HAUNTING  image  of  my  age, 

That  risest  with  me  in  the  morn, 
And  saith  with  evening  voice  of  scorn, 

^  Come  clasp  me,  and  thy  love  assuage  ! ' 

0  baffling  Love,  whose  mocking  eyes 

From  pools  of  searchings  deep  are  seen, 
Or  where  high  mountain-turrets  lean 
Standest  depict  against  the  skies, — 

1  long  for  thee  ;  my  heart  aflame 

No  other  bride  or  mistress  knows : 
Yet  on  my  waning  century  goes. 
And  longing  cannot  crown  its  aim. 

Yet  cries  my  heart,  '  Whate'er  may  come, 

I  will  thy  perfect  contours  hold. 

And  to  my  passion  shall  unfold 

The  lips  that  hitherto  are  dumb ; 
2 


i8  Eleusis 

<  What  though  the  vaulted  heaven  fall, 

What  though  my  soul  go  down  to  death,- 
To  feel  for  once  the  eternal  breath 
Will  be  rich  guerdon  tor  it  all ! ' 


EJeusis  19 


TV. 


O  BROADER  scope  of  life,  divined 
By  only  those  whose  gaze  intense 
Surmounts  the  barriers  set  by  sense, 

And  passes  what  has  been  defined ; 

O  wide  conception  leaping  o'er 

The  bounds  that  earlier  knowledge  gave, 
What  though  the  fearful  feebly  rave 

And  cry,  '  Oh,  tarry  on  the  shore  '; 

And  what  though  many  a  wreck  decays 
By  deep  divining's  boundless  sea, 
Where  many  a  tempest's  full  degree 

Proud  launched  convoys  disarrays  ; 

All  travellers  pass  through  dangerous  lands. 
Or  risk  the  storms  of  treacherous  seas ; 
All  gain  is  bought  by  loss  of  ease, 

And  glory  yields  to  daring  hands. 


20  Eleusis 

To  Doric  moods  the  sails  are  set, 

And  songs  pursue  the  vessel's  keel. 
And  far  horizons  half  reveal 

Mist-shrouded  tower  and  parapet. 

And  Mystery's  deep  enchantment  falls 

From  slumbrous  depths  of  sapphire  sky, 
And  Hope  uprears  a  fabric  high 

Behind  the  heights  of  unknown  walls. 

Across  the  soul's  responsive  strings 

The  touch  of  heavenly  music  sweeps, 
And  my  intensest  ardor  leaps 

To  reach  the  inmost  heart  of  things. 

Then  onward  fly,  O  bark,  from  shore ; 

Before,  behind,  is  due  acclaim ; 

I  go  to  win  a  deathless  name, 
Or  die  as  others  died  before  1 


Eleusis  21 


V. 


Yet  what  the  silence  of  the  dark 
In  vaulted  cavern  dim  and  deep, 
Where  Echo,  Echo  lies  asleep, 

And  Fear  forgets  to  whisper  '  Hark ! ' 

Or  what  the  silence  of  the  peak 

Surmounting  wastes  of  barren  plain, 
Or  that  of  yon  debateless  main 

Whose  rigid  secrets  none  can  speak ; 

Aye,  what  are  these  to  yonder  track 

Where  Silence  shrieks,  '  'Tis  I,  'Tis  I ! 
I  watch  the  centuries  wax  and  die, 

And  hear  the  wheels  go  slipping  back. 

*  From  agony  my  voice  is  born ; 

My  earthly  sisters  all  are  dumb ; 
Afar  I  see  new  races  come 
To  perish  'neath  the  heel  of  scorn ; 


22  Beusis 

*  Yet  what  I  know  I  cannot  tell ; 

My  realm  divides  all  time  in  twain ; 
And  whether  life  grows  life  again, 
My  lips  are  powerless  to  foretell.' 

No  traveller  walks  that  border  shore, 

And  thence  returns  with  pilgrim  song, 
With  foreign  lays  and  stories  long, 

And  robes  that  strangers  wove  and  wore ; 

But  he  who  goes  repairs  not  thence ; 

The  speechless  cycles  turn  and  turn : 

Our  only  solace  is  an  urn, 
And  Memory's  poignant  recompense. 


Eleusis  2} 


VI. 


And  so  my  heart  and  hope  grows  weak, 
And  life's  fate-flung  contem2)tuous  boon 
Is  dawn  that  blights  before  the  noon, 

Or  child  that  does  not  live  to  speak. 

Are  years  so  sweet  that  toil  and  pain 
Should  buy  the  few  we  linger  here  ? 
Or  life  within  this  hemisphere 

As  sweet  as  bitter  its  disdain? 

But  passion  lives  though  potence  die, 
And  love  of  life  lives  longer  still ; 
^Oh  Fortune,  treat  me  as  ye  will. 
But  let  me  live !  '  the  ages  sigh. 

Yet  weariness  is  near  to  rest, 

And  suffering  ofttimes  bringeth  sleep  5 
So  I,  although  to-day  I  weep. 

Perhaps  hereafter  may  be  blest. 


24  Eleusis 


vn. 

Yet  restless  Thought,  with  straining  eye, 
And  borne  at  Will's  implacate  need 
Above  the  citadels  of  creed 

Where  undisturbed  horizons  lie, 

Spies  out  through  distance  dim  and  vast 
Life's  broad  expanse  of  sombre  sea, 
Whose  billows  touch  the  same  degree 

As  in  the  countless  centuries  past. 

To  swell  it  myriad  streamlets  haste, 
And  out  it  myriad  streamlets  go. 
In  ceaseless  counterpoise  of  flow 

And  ceaseless  weaving  up  of  waste. 

Now  here,  now  there,  the  subtle  stream, 
And  now  returning  whence  it  came, 
Sweeps  through  my  heart  and  wakes  to  fame. 

Or  thrills  the  rose  with  joy  supreme. 


Eleusis  2^ 

Wrapped  thus  in  life's  more  fleeting  flood, 
The  true  and  deathless  life  lives  on ; 
That  which  hath  made  me  paragon, 

And  of  the  gods  decayless  blood. 

For,  held  and  prisoned  by  some  power, 
Within  this  life  the  truer  dwells, 
'Till  heavenly  sign  and  dial  tells 

The  full  and  free  and  destined  hour. 

The  oneness  making  what  we  are. 

The  eternal  stamp  that  gives  me  form ; 
No  shock  of  elemental  storm, 

No  crash  of  planet  meeting  star, 

No  blotting  out  of  sun  and  moon. 
No  chaos  boundless  and  profound, 
Can  slay :  in  chaos  I  am  found. 

For  I  am  night  and  I  am  noon. 


^6  Eleusis 


VIII. 

Yet,  Memory  lost,  thy  latest  heir 

Demands  thy  urns  that  border  time, 
Thy  cenotaphs  in  clime  on  clime, 

Thy  earlier  joyance  or  despair. 

That  palimpsest  unfold  to-day, 

And  'neath  the  lately  written  lines 
Read  out  my  lineage  from  the  signs 

Whose  deeper  mystery  says  me  nay. 

No  answer  comes  ;  or  if  reply 

Floats  echoing  through  my  pillar'd  hall. 
Its  wordless  echoes  rise  and  fall, 

Approach  and  voiceless  hasten  by ; 

They  waste,  they  wane ;  my  halls  of  thought 
Disperse  the  strain  that  once  was  song. 
And  sadly  Silence  floats  along 

To  mock  with  mystery  what  was  sought. 


Eleusis  27 

For  'mid  my  labyrinth  rooms  that  ring 
With  each  its  own  responsive  tone, 
The  true  refrain  grows  quite  unknown 

That  somewhere  heavenly  voices  sing  ; 

Or,  swelled  by  Nature's  echoing  throat. 
Betrays  its  birthright,  and  with  lies 
Deceives,  dissuades,  destroys,  denies, 

With  false  and  yet  enchanting  note. 

For  I  who  hear  am  he  who  sings ; 

And  what  is  sung,  that  too  is  Me ; 

For  I  am  one  and  yet  am  three, — 
The  listener,  singer,  and  the  strings. 

And  all  in  self ;  yet  cannot  tell 

What  strains  I  hear,  or  if  I  sang. 
Or  what  the  notes,  or  how  they  rang 

From  out  my  mad  musician's  cell. 

And  so  I  circle  round  and  round, 

And  paths  once  trod  ^gain  I  tread ; 
For  life  is  life,  though  men  be  dead, 

And  death  is  —  failing  to  be  found. 


28  Eleusis 


IX. 

For  life  has  orbit  more  immense 

Than  swiftest  comets  overfly ; 

We  pass  this  human  orbit  by, 
And  slide  from  out  this  arc  of  sense, 

And  passing  onward  in  my  round. 
As  one  who  coasts  a  foreign  shore 
Sees  strange  growths  never  seen  before 

And  races  hitherto  unfound, 

So  I  shall  see  what  is  unseen ; 

And,  casting  arc  and  arc  behind. 

My  more  and  more  enfranchised  mind 

Shall  learn  what  present  mysteries  mean ; 

High  tides  shall  roll  where  shallows  lay. 
And  desert  lands  grow  rich  with  bloom, 
And  mountain  peaks  whose  summits  loom 

To  dim  the  rising  of  the  day. 


Eleusis  29 

Shall  sink  beneath  my  upward  wing       * 
That  mounts  the  eternal  vault  of  Truth 
With  fresh  and  growing  sense  of  youth 

And  the  strong  ardor  of  the  Spring. 


30  Eleusis 


Yet  is  there  something  still  untraced : 
Some  link  that  hides  its  magic  gold, — 
Some  bud  whose  petals  still  enfold 

Their  secret, — forces  yet  displaced. 

Oh,  could  we  see  where  closely  press 
The  arcs  of  being,  could  we  stand 
Where  sliding  down  from  either  hand 

They  meet  and  closely  coalesce, 

Then  Doubt  at  last  were  doubly  dead ; 
And  my  new  orbit,  cloudless  grown. 
Would  sweep  thro'  Truth's  imperial  zone,- 

Eternal  sunshine  overhead. 

But  darkness  now  encumbers  all. 
And  silence  answers  to  my  cry ; 
The  heights  of  thought  my  wings  defy, 

Yet  lure  me  onward  till  I  faU. 


Eleusis  31 

Beneath  the  peaks  of  pure  desire 
I  lie  in  helpless  longing  low, 
And  feel  a  dull  resentment  grow 

To  burn  my  being  with  its  fire. 

With  bruised  heart,  with  broken  wing, 
My  purpose  countervailed  by  fate, 
I  scorn  the  low,  I  loathe  the  great, 

And  every  seen  and  unseen  thing. 


)2  Eleusis 


XI. 

O  STRUGGLIXG  Soul !  thy  heirdom  thrills 
With  hope  that  maddens,  then  denies ; 
'  I  am  thy  love  I  '  the  phantom  cries, 
And  then  with  treacherous  scorning  kills. 

Move  onward,  Soul,  within  thy  round. 

Nor  strive  the  eternal  springs  to  quaff ; 
The  Gods  at  high  aspirers  laugh, 

And  will  is  left  an  hour  unbound ; 

Then,  harsh  with  mockery  and  with  scorn. 
Defiance  meets  thy  wild  appeals ; 
And  dark  Despair,  unheeded,  feels 

'Twere  better  to  liave  been  unborn. 


Beusis  ^3 


XII. 

For,  living,  one  must  live  by  rule ; 

We  tread  the  paths  our  fathers  wore, 
Nor  look  behind,  nor  look  before, 

But  nod  the  noddings  of  the  fool 

Who  knows  not  why,  but  follows  feet 
That  echo  ^  Follow  '  in  his  ear, — 
E'en  though  it  be  some  frenzied  Lear 

Who  cries  '  Advance  '  or  calls  '  Retreat.' 

So  longing  souls  must  go  astray. 

And,  struggling  on  'mid  murk  and  mire, 
Feel  life  grow  barren  of  desire, 

Or  turn  like  hunted  stag  at  bay 

To  face  the  foe  when  hope  denies. 

And  drink  the  poison-pointed  spear : 
— Life  to  the  vanquished  is  not  dear 

As  death  to  him  who  boldly  dies ! 


J4  Beusis 


xm. 

*  Rise  up/  one  saith,  *  to  higher  ends  ; 

Proclaim  thee  better  than  the  rest, 
And  feel  the  passion  in  thy  breast 
That  pure  and  lofty  striving  sends.' 

And  answering  to  him,  '  What  is  this  ? 
A  moment's  self-deceptive  joy, 
A  dream  that  waking  will  destroy, 

A  phantom  starlight  must  dismiss. 

*  Its  fabric  falls  and  melts  away 

And  sinks  to  wed  its  kindred  dust, 
Because  some  old  half-hidden  lust 
Stalks  laughing  from  its  false  decay.' 

Then  death  of  Hope  comes  slowly  on ; 
My  springs  of  action  cease  to  flow, 
And  o'er  my  spirit  broods  a  woe 

Like  that  which  sliadowed  Babylon. 


>^     OF  THE 


OF  -^-^ 

My  fertile  valleys  wear  a  pall 

That  yon  dark  mount  of  sorrow  spread, 
And  the  thick  ashes  of  the  dead 

Come  slowly  down  to  bury  all. 

Dumb,  senseless,  all  unhurt  by  pain, 

Inert  as  matter  !  can  it  be 

That  aspirations  vainly  flee 
And  like  mirages  wax  and  wane  ? 

What  means  the  native  power  of  art. 

And  what  the  implanted  love  of  truth  ? 
Are  these  but  visions  haunting  Youth, 

To  charm  and  then  enrage  the  heart  ? 

Is  living  some  most  tragic  play 

Whereat  remorseless  purpose  smiles. 
And  longings  only  witless  wiles 

That  first  enchant  and  finally  slay  ? 

So  were  it  better  swift  to  fall 

As  tree  beneath  the  axman's  blow : 
Aye,  sometimes  Misery  whispers  low, 
'  'T  were  better  not  to  live  at  all.' 


jj6  Eleusis 


xnr. 

O  ADAMANTINE  reign  of  Law ! 

Relax  thine  edicts  now  and  then ; 

Display  sweet  mercy  unto  men, 
Discerning  in  thyself  some  flaw. 

What  means  the  bowing  of  the  pine, 

Or  what  the  grain-field's  bended  head, 
When  storm  and  tempest  frenzy-led 

Whirl  o'er  the  earth  in  rage  condign  ? 

Day  veils  his  banner  unto  eve. 

And  Night  lays  off  her  starry  crown  ; 

The  planets  fall  supinely  down. 
And  the  high  tides  their  conquests  leave. 

*  To  yield,  to  yield !  *  their  voices  cry  ; 
*  Contention  brings  supreme  defeat ; 
And  they  who  deign  not  to  retreat 
Disarmed  and  fetter-laden  lie.' 


Eleusis  jJ7 

Why  can  we  not  the  reason  know, 

Or  why  are  sense  and  soul  so  blind  ? 
Whence  comes  the  mystery  of  the  mind, 

And  longing's  endless  ebb  and  flow  ? 

High  barriers  their  thwarting  bring ; 
And  lo-like  from  land  to  land, 
From  plains  of  snow  to  plains  of  sand, 

We  fly  the  Fates'  remorseless  sting. 


j8  Beusis 


XV. 

Yet  waves  uproll  to  meet  the  shore 

Where  many  a  joyous  blossom  sways, 
And  oft  and  oft  the  tide  delays 

As  if  enamored  more  and  more. 

This  ocean-lover  longs  to  press 

The  fair  earth-blossom  to  his  side, 
And  bear  it  on  returning  tide 

To  cheer  his  far-off  loneliness ; 

And  tides  that  rise  with  longing  swell 
To  court  these  joyous  maids  of  June, 
May  reach  them  some  victorious  noon, 

And  bear  in  triumph, —  who  can  tell  ? 

So  hearts  that  long  and  tides  that  roll 

Of  feeling  and  divine  desire 

May  reach,  by  force  of  longing,  higher, 
More  priceless  treasures  of  the  soul. 


Beusis  ^ 


XVI. 

Sweet  Summer  clouds,  celestial  fleet 
That  ploughs  sublime  a  sapphire  sea ! 
Fain  would  I  sail  as  calm  as  ye 

To  some  fair  haven  of  retreat. 

Meseems  for  you  some  pilot  stout 
Maintains  the  rudder  in  his  grip, 
While  I  alone  within  my  ship 

Without  a  helmsman  drift  about, 

And  driven  onward  by  the  blast, 
Or  rising  on  some  mural  swell, 
My  boasted  skill  cannot  foretell 

The  shore  whereon  I  may  be  cast. 

So,  knowing  naught  of  how  to  sail, 
'T  were  better  let  the  wind  direct ; 
For,  destined  finally  to  be  wreckt, 

Why  toil  and  labor  but  to  fail  ? 


40  Eleusis 


XVII. 

They  say,  '  He  tried,  but  trying  failed,* 

They  brand  him  false  and  craven  knight ; 
And  so  the  world  in  headlong  flight 

Abandons  him  at  whom  she  railed. 

The  sands  of  many  a  hopeless  coast 

Are  heaped  with  spars  and  wrecks  unnamed. 
Stout  oaken  ribs  by  tempest  strained. 

And  now  and  then  a  capstan  post. 

These  sailed  them  forth  one  Summer  morn, 
One  Summer  morn  with  canvas  proud ; 
To  fanfares  shouted  by  the  crowd, 

They  sailed  for  lands  beyond  the  Horn. 

And  now  on  yonder  surf -worn  sand 

Their  ghosts  go  wandering :  yet  as  brave 
Go  forth  new  keels  to  breast  the  wave, 

And  carry  love's  or  gain's  command. 


Eleusis  41 

So  runs  the  world :  and  those  who  win 
Are  hailed  the  mighty  and  the  great ; 
But  he  who  reached  the  goal  too  late 

Is  guilty  of  his  failure's  sin. 

What  though  he  strove  and  strove  his  best, 
And  nobly  striving  broke  his  heart  ? 
Success  in  every  realm  of  art 

Proclaims  herself  the  crucial  test ! 


42  Beusis 


XVIII. 

O  WONDROUS  moment,  when  Success 
To  ardent  effort  yields  her  bride, 
And  joyous  from  the  altar's  side 

They  pass  to  perfect  hapi)iness. 

The  midnight  anguish  is  forgot ; 
The  vigil  hour,  the  weary  year, 
Dismissed  from  memory's  hemisphere, 

Depart  and  are  remembered  not. 

Forgot  is  all  the  toilsome  way 

O'er  wliich  they  trod  with  lingering  limbs ; 

Proud  Nature  sings  their  nuptiai  hymns, 
And  forth  they  walk  into  the  day. 

They  walk  to  meet  the  golden  west ; 

Across  they  pass  the  purple  hills ; 

And  where  eternal  Summer  spills 
Her  urns  of  sunshine,  dwell  at  rest. 


Beusis  4j 


XIX. 

But  what  the  hope  that  sailor  feels, 
Or  what  the  joy  of  lover's  dream  ? 
Envenomed  Cupid's  arrows  stream, 

And  painted  barks  have  strengthless  keels. 

The  booming  guns  of  frigate  vast, 
The  signal-lights  athwart  the  sea. 
The  surf  wild-breaking  on  the  lea, 

The  splitting  sail  and  cracking  mast ! 

O  hapless  crew,  ye  sailed,  ye  sailed. 
Familiar  shores  were  at  your  side ; 
Yet  gazing  on  your  homes  ye  died. 

And  breathing  native  air  ye  failed. 

So  standing  where  through  thresholds  wide 
Success  displays  her  vistas  long. 
The  soul  is  tripped  by  passion's  thong. 

And  finds  the  fairest  hopes  denied. 


44  Beusis 


If  Hope  be  budded,  snow  and  sleet 
Despoil  the  promise  of  the  flower ; 
What  then  is  Summer's  softest  shower, 

Or  June,  with  fervid  burst  of  heat ; 

Or  what  are  floods  of  evening  dew 

To  barren  deserts  of  despair. 

Where  seeds  nor  germs  nor  rootlets  are, 
Nor  even  rosemary  or  rue  ? 

The  rebel  hand  of  bold  emprise 

Has  sown  the  field  with  deathf ul  dearth ; 

The  seed  has  perished  ere  its  birth, 
And  Sorrow  sits  to  mock  the  wise ; 

And  suns  unheeded  fire  the  east ; 

Unheeded  moons  to  crescent  wane ; 

The  stars  unheeded  o'er  their  plain 
May  move, —  I  know  not,- — or  liave  ceased. 


Eleusis  4$ 

An  iron  crown  around  my  head, 

My  hands  in  fearful  fetters  bound, 
A  faineant  king  in  mockery  crowned 

To  rule  o'er  noble  purpose  dead, 

To  king  the  buried  hopes  of  youth, 

Behold  Ambition's  dying  throe, 

To  pomp  my  own  expiring  woe 
And  rule  the  funeral  rites  of  Truth. 

Oh,  who  is  strong  to  conquer  Hope, 

And  conquering  sing  his  bridal  song, 
Or  win  the  heirdoms  that  belong 

To  Life's  diviner  astroscope  ? 


46  Beusis 


XXI. 

Then  let  me  venture  to  thy  wall, 

O  Cloister  crowned  with  quiet  age, 
And  as  one  worn  with  pilgrimage 

Repose  my  limbs  within  thy  hall. 

Let  me  adventure  to  thy  shrine, 
O  Melancholy,  mild  and  sweet, 
Where  woes  with  absolution  meet 

And  souls  by  suffering  grow  divine. 

O  sweet  Seclusion,  let  thy  spell 
Unseal  the  spirit's  blinded  eye. 
And  thoughts  immeasurably  high 

Sing  me  my  long-sought  canticle. 


Eleusis  47 


XXII. 

I  DONNED  the  gray  and  sackcloth  robe, 
Around  my  waist  the  knotted  cord ; 
And,  every  passion  held  in  ward. 

Turned  round  the  convent's  silent  globe. 

My  soul  from  thought  of  wrong  was  swept. 
My  penance  done  most  joyously ; 
And  in  my  new-born  ecstasy 

Before  the  altar  steps  I  wept. 

Yet  when  in    Summer  glowed  the  sun, 
My  thoughts  refused  to  dwell  apart ; 
I  felt  the  impetuous  currents  start 

That  through  all  life  and  limits  run ; 

The  matin  song  in  vain  outrang 

Through  echoing  aisles  its  soft  refrain, 
And  the  dull  vespers  all  in  vain 

My  lips  in  tired  responses  sang. 


Eleusis 

Aside  my  thralling  robes  I  threw ; 

I  passed  the  convent  gates  between ; 

The  lindens  shook  their  silver  sheen, 
And  up  the  lark  in  circles  flew ; 

The  world  rang  out  an  anthem  grand, 

More  sweet  than  choirs  our  convent  kept, 
And  the  pure  voice  of  Nature  swept 

In  concert  over  sea  and  land. 

Then,  pondering,  new  thoughts  came  and  went ; 
My  soul  with  sense  of  joy  was  fraught, 
And  the  broad  world  superbly  wrought 

Seemed  bounteous,  pure,  benevolent. 

Fair  robes  of  hope  Queen  Nature  wore ; 

Responsive  songs  she  sang  to  me ; 

And  I,  as  from  a  boundless  sea. 
Stepped  forth  upon  the  solid  shore. 


CANTO   II. 


PRELUDE. 


Away,  O  Soul,  and  seek  thy  kind 
In  air  and  earth,  in  fire  and  sea ! 
For  Nature's  reahn  to  thee  is  free, 

And  only  Nature  is  not  blind. 

The  mists  have  fled  ;  the  prisoned  sense 
That  sought  from  self  the  All  to  know- 
Has  burst  its  chain  and  slain  its  foe, 

And  finds  in  Nature  joy  intense. 

No  more  with  grief  my  days  ally ; 

To  lonely  woe  I  say,  '  Farewell '; 

No  more  on  sorrow's  surging  swell 
I  float  between  the  earth  and  sky. 

No  more  my  days  I  lead  alone. 

Without  a  heart  to  feel  for  mine ; 
For  Nature  pours  her  mystic  wine. 

And  says  'Thou  art  my  own,  my  own.' 


52  Beusis 

The  seasons  come,  the  seasons  go ; 

The  year  hangs  up  its  finished  crown ; 

A  century's  suns  and  moons  go  down, 
And  on  a  thousand  cycles  flow ; 

And  thrones  and  kings  and  reahns  decay ; 

The  builders  perish,  and  their  fanes ; 

The  star  of  empire  dims  and  wanes, 
And  ruins  mount  on  ruins  gray ; 

Yet  glows  the  sun  as  when  his  beam 
Did  voice  the  mute  Memnonian  lyre ; 
As  then  he  burns  the  east  with  fire, 

And  drinks  at  night  the  western  stream. 

Why  to  my  heart's  remotest  shore 
Exalts  the  tide  of  joy  its  might, 
When  yonder  star's  thin  shaft  of  light 

Comes  glittering  through  my  casement  door  ? 

O  light  that  shines  to  me,  to  me. 
From  Sirius'  doubly-distant  sun, 
Thou  dost,  meseems,  imprison  one 

Of  Nature's  unseen  ministry ! 


Beusis  5jJ 

Break  o'er  my  lonely  vigil  hour 

Thy  centuried  silence  I  let  me  leam 
What  will  or  passion  in  thee  burn, 

And  what  the  limit  of  thy  power. 

And  there  are  germs  defying  sight, 
That  dwell  in  every  forest  tree ; 
And  with  a  throb  we  cannot  see 

Upswells  the  bosom  of  the  Night ; 

All  round  me,  flying  here  and  there, 
I  hear  the  sweep  of  myriad  wings. 
Unseen,  yet  felt ;  and  now  outrings 

A  subtle  music  through  the  air. 

It  sings  :   '  By  myriad,  myriad  strands 
Ye  grow,  of  us  the  unseen,  part ; 
And  Nature  clasps  ye  to  her  heart, 

And  holds  your  pulses  in  her  hands.' 

So,  Soul,  away  through  all  the  earth. 
And  seek  thy  kindred  at  the  poles, 
Or  where  the  central  river  rolls 

All  hissing  from  the  sun's  hot  hearth. 


^4  Eleusis 

Build  up  to  Nature  altars  high ; 

Invoke  her  spirit ;  then  my  heart 
Shall  find  the  greatest  crown  of  art 

To  learn  from  living  how  to  die ! 


CANTO   II. 


1. 

High  priest  of  Nature,  altars  grand 
I  reared  in  every  separate  zone, 
Amid  the  ice-floes  white  and  lone, 

Ajid  on  the  south  and  blazing  sand. 

So  northward  on  my  shallop  drove, 
Till  icy  grew  the  spars  and  ropes, 
And  waning  sun  and  fading  hopes 

With  high  ecstatic  purpose  strove. 

I  coasted  on  past  coral  isles. 

Far  onward  to  the  burning  south. 
And  where  to  cool  the  fevered  mouth 

The  treacherous  lotus-fruit  beguiles. 

Then  wandered  'mid  the  barren  wastes 
That  stretch  beyond  the  Asian  meads, 
And  heard  the  sighing  of  the  reeds 

Where  soft  and  fleet  Hydaspes  hastes. 


5^  Eleusis 

On  Indian  flowers  I  lay  reclined 

At  noon  beneath  the  banyan  wide, 

And  watched  the  scorched  and  sluggish  tide 

Rise  up  to  catch  the  cooling  wind. 

And  o'er  the  Andalusian  plain 

Where  rarely  grows  the  purple  wine, 
I  saw  the  dusk  and  half  divine 

And  passionate  damosels  of  Spain. 

Mid  Paestum's  Doric  shafts  I  sang, 

And  where  Antinous  drank  the  Nile, 
And  Java's  far  and  famous  isle 

To  my  new  rite  of  worship  rang. 

In  every  clime,  by  every  sea, 

In  zones  that  interchanging  lie  — 
Of  temperate  heat  and  tropic  sky, 

O  Nature,  have  I  worshipped  thee ! 


Beusis  ^7 


II. 


What  joy  to  watch  the  holts  of  fire 
Shoot  out  the  crimson  bow  of  dawn, 
And  Night's  dumb  silence  leave  the  lawn 

To  Morning's  glad  exultant  choir ! 

With  mellow  throats  they  greet  the  sun, 
And  usher  in  the  court  of  Day ; 
While  all  the  Hours  at  eager  play 

Around  his  chariot  garland-hung. 

And  clinging  to  his  bounding  wheels, 
Fling  rosy  missiles  to  and  fro. 
Beneath  whose  iridescent  blow 

The  genius  of  the  darkness  reels. 

The  sentinel  peaks  in  splendor  vie. 

And  gorgeous  ensigns  o'er  them  rear ; 
And  silent  air,  with  rose-red  ear, 

Listens  while  Phoebus  mounts  on  high. 


5*  Eleusis 

Then  sunlight  steals  to  forests  deep, 
And  down  the  mountains  to  the  sea ; 
And  now,  where  Capri's  caverns  be, 

Awakes  the  sapphire  from  its  sleep. 


Eleusis  ^9 


III. 


What  joy  to  tread  the  forest  free, 
To  press  the  sod  with  daisies  pied, 
And  feel  the  deep  and  pulsing  tide 

Of  Life's  fresh  vernal  mystery ! 

What  joy  in  forests,  when  alone. 

The  depths  of  slumbrous  aisles  to  pass, 
And  hear  the  solemn  matin  mass 

That  Nature's  celebrants  intone  ; 

The  lofty  nave  in  reverence  bows, 

The  transepts  wake  from  night  and  sleep, 
And  through  the  mighty  minster  sweep 

The  answering  antiphones  of  vows ; 

And  I,  with  these  of  one  descent. 
My  orisons  in  concert  pay. 
And  out  into  the  full-orbed  day 

Walk  consecrated  and  content. 


6o  Eleusis 


TV. 

What  joy  to  watch  the  glittering  train 
Of  evening  mount  the  curved  sky, 
And  hear  the  breezes  lightly  fly 

To  kiss  the  lips  of  sighing  grain ! 

The  lambent  eye  of  yonder  star, 
The  ivory  shoulder  of  the  moon. 
The  full  content  of  midnight's  noon, 

And  rush  of  yonder  planet's  car ! 

What  joy  to  feel  the  impassioned  sense 
Of  kinship  with  the  sea  and  earth, 
And  claim  a  brotherhood  by  birth 

With  Nature,  measureless,  immense ! 


Beusis  6i 


V. 


At  night  I  came  to  Ocean's  swell ; 
The  hunted  billows  shoreward  flew, 
And,  like  to  suppliants  come  to  sue, 

At  Earth's  great  altar-steps  they  fell. 

The  rocks  with  rhythmic  pulses  beat 

Through  their  deep  hearts,  as  swiftly  down 
Each  giant  cast  his  mural  crown 

At  California's  haughty  feet. 

Fear  sped  on  velvet  wings  to  me, 

And  brooding  o'er  my  sinking  head 
Revealed  the  faces  of  the  dead 

That  looked  from  out  the  western  sea. 

And  storm-sped  voices,  frenzy-strung, 
To  my  new  sense  condignly  swept ; 
Till  all  my  manhood  moaned  and  wept 

O'er  ship  and  sailor-man  undone. 


62  Beusis 

On  some  high  crest  he  floateth  on, 

With  eyes  upturned  to  heaven  in  vain; 
Or  lies  in  valley  of  disdain, 

Earth^s  mute  and  sea-tossed  paragon. 


Eleusis  6) 


VI. 


Resistless  now  to  some  command, 
And  creeping,  creeping  from  afar. 
The  moonlight  and  the  evening  star 

Behold  new  tides  assail  the  land. 

The  shadows  yield  to  flood  and  foam. 

The  shore-bird  spreads  his  inland  wing, 
And  the  dusk-charioted  ocean-king 

Drives  on  though  rocks  and  sea-weed  moan. 

So  I  am  slain  in  life's  excess ; 

My  transient  heirdom  is  not  mine ; 

But  the  broad  surge  and  swell  divine 
Hath  mastery  never  growing  less. 


64  Beusis 


VII. 

I  SIT  and  ponder,  when  the  tide 
With  languid  step  begins  return, 
As  from  the  tomb  and  funeral  urn 

Comes  Grief,  whose  darling  one  has  died. 

Great  tears  are  wept  for  bounded  Hope  ; 
The  baffled  mourner  voiceless  lies ; 
And  the  deep-shrouding  Darkness  cries, 

*  All  passion  dwells  in  fettered  scope ; 

*  Dusk  hands  outreach  to  baffle  thee ; 

Thy  tides  of  knowledge  backward  fall, 
As  the  dark  powers  of  Nature  call 
From  world-wide  empire  yonder  sea.' 


Eleusis  65 


VIII. 

Fair  hamlet  like  brave  girdle  clasped 
Round  yonder  mistress  of  the  plain, 
Lead  forth  your  last  well-axled  wain, 

And  leave  your  useless  doors  unhasped. 

From  far  away  your  laden  ships 

Sail  homeward-wafted  to  your  bay, 
And  sailors  sea-tossed  many  a  day 

Are  pressing  fond  resistless  lips. 

Yet  where  your  emerald  girdle  clings, 
And  where  your  weary  vessels  rest. 
And  where,  with  passion's  perfect  zest 

The  home-come  sailor-lover  sings. 

Shall  fall  the  mocking  ashes  pale 

Ere  midnight-bell  salutes  the  morn. 
And  Nature  clothed  in  fire  and  scorn 

Will  laugh  to  hear  her  children  wail ; 


66  Beusis 

Will  tread  with  soulless  step  the  shore, 

With  soulless  hand  your  vineyards  crush, 
And  in  the  current  of  her  rush 

Whirl  Life  to  Death's  domain  once  more. 


Eleusis  6y 


IX. 

So,  leopard,  leap  from  out  thy  lair  ! 
The  jungles  reek  with  heavy  mist, 
And  still  the  breezes  are,  and  whist 

The  hot  and  burned-out  Indian  air. 

Leap  up,  O  leopard !   'tis  the  hour 

The  lonely  traveller  pants  with  fear 
Lest  thy  unechoing  step  be  near. 

And  stops  at  every  breath  to  cower. 

Leap  lightly  on  the  easy  prey, 

And  glut  thy  angry  maw  once  more ; 

Thou  art  the  grave  of  half  a  score, 
Now  add  another  one  to-day! 


68  Eleusis 


X. 


One  boundeth  joyous  toward  the  east, 

But  halts  where  falls  th'  embattled  shore ; 
Bright  envoys  come  the  waters  o'er 

To  herald  Morning's  golden  feast ; 

His  heart  aspires  to  distance  dim, 
As  cag^d  bird  it  beats  its  wires. 
And  pants  to  warm  it  at  the  fires 

That  burn  the  far  horizon's  rim. 

Yet  cliffs  lie  here,  and  deep  below 

The  Ocean's  wide  unending  room, — 
O  Man,  thou  art  but  earthly  groom. 

And  Nature's  arms  around  thee  grow. 

Look,  long  to  fly  I  yet  she,  thy  bride, 
With  rosy  limbs  around  thee  flung. 
Will  hold  thee  while  thy  strength  is  young, 

To  spurn  thee  when  thy  youth  has  died ! 


Beusis  6p 


XI. 

From  purpling  mounds  in  early  June 
I  pluck  sweet  violets  nodding  up, 
The  trillium  and  its  graceful  cup 

That  holds  the  dew-wine  unto  noon. 

Of  thick  green  grass  a  round  I  weave 
To  knit  my  violets  lest  they  fall, 
And  sitting  under  oak-tree  tall 

I  hear  Spring's  passion  pant  and  heave. 

I  hear  the  waves  with  Summer  feet 

Come  gay  and  gladsome  to  the  shore, 
And  in  the  purple  skies  a  score 

Of  wide-winged  curlews  float  and  meet ; 

I  hear  the  sounds  of  axe  and  wedge 
On  busy  ships  that  wait  to  sail, 
The  sailors  answering  to  the  hail 

Of  captain  at  the  water's  edge ; 


JO  Beusis 

The  noise  of  myriad  hands  that  go 
Responsive  to  a  myriad  brains : 
Here  is  the  pulsing  of  the  veins, 

And  the  great  world's  impetuous  flow. 


Eleusis  7/ 


XII. 

But  this  slight  round  of  grass, —  ah  me  ! 

See  how  it  breaks  I   and  all  around 

My  violets  lie  upon  the  ground, 
Or  fluttering  off  impatiently 

Are  lured  away  by  ardent  breath 
Of  June's  impulsive  lover-breeze. 
Who  strays  now,  loitering  'mid  the  trees, 

Or  goes  coquetting  o'er  the  heath. 

And  so  the  hopes  of  yonder  sail. 

The  beatings  of  the  captain's  heart, 
The  sailors  urgent  to  depart. 

Some  envious  wind  may  countervail ; 

And  hurling  ship  in  frenzied  glee 

Through  straits  and  islands  slightly  known, 
May  sink  them  where  on  coral  prone 

They  grow  the  substance  of  the  sea. 


72  Beusis 


XIII. 

Stately  across  the  world  she  trod, 

Her  arms  with  gold  and  purple  hung ; 
And  wide  the  colors  rich  she  flung 

O'er  heath  and  distant  tree  and  sod. 

The  flame  of  setting  sun  grew  pale 
Beside  the  halo  Autumn  wore, 
And  'neath  her  feet  the  forest  floor 

Glowed  like  the  wine  in  Holy  Grail. 

The  mists  of  fine  October  blue 

Were  interwove  with  crimson  rare, 
As  through  the  rich  and  ripened  air 

Bright  Autumn  leaves  enamored  flew  ; 

Her  wake  was  such  as  southern  keel 

Leaves  flashing  'neath  an  evening  sky ; 
Red,  purple,  crimson,  gold,  defy 

All  words  but  his  who  lives  to  feel  I 


Beusis  7jJ 

At  last  she  stood  with  crimson  mouth 
Where  dusk  horizons  dimly  stand. 
And  with  one  kiss  to  sky  and  land 

Went  hastening  onward  to  the  south. 


74  Eletisis 


XIV. 

And,  as  she  passed,  from  northern  strand 
A  royal  youth  leaped  lightly  down, 
With  crystals  flashing  in  his  crown 

And  icy  sceptre  in  his  hand. 

Fair  frozen  clouds  his  limbs  arrayed, 
In  frosty  sandals  sped  his  feet, 
And  storms  of  Summer-slaying  sleet 

Drove  on,  his  deathful  cavalcade ; 

And  Color  fled  in  frenzied  fear, 

And  Hope  put  on  her  funeral  wreath ; 
And  here  and  there  upon  tlie  heath 

Lay  travellers  frozen  to  their  bier. 


Beusis  y^ 


XV. 

Across  I  trod  the  royal  world, 
The  kingly  seas  I  fled  across ; 
Yet  haunting,  like  the  albatross 

With  tireless  pinion  never  furled, 

Care  hovered  o'er  my  weary  way ; 
At  night  she  poised  above  my  bed, 
And  round  my  bowed  and  aching  head 

Went  circling  through  the  wearier  day. 

No  power  could  drive  her  in  defeat ; 
She  drank  my  salt  and  flowing  tears. 
And  through  the  long  expanse  of  years 

Drove  Hope  in  dastardly  retreat. 

For  Nature  hath  a  step  of  steel 

To  crush  her  children  when  they  cry ; 
They  plead,  and  pleading  yet  must  lie 

Beneath  her  feet  who  cannot  feel. 


76  Beusis 


XVI. 

Joy  faints  at  Disappointment's  stride, 
And  Crime  is  eldest  son  of  Want : 
From  phantasies  that  mock  and  haunt 

Our  mental  vision,  who  can  hide  ? 

We  clutch  the  dark  and  leaden  clamps. 
Or  wrench  in  vain  the  steely  bars. 
To  find  our  only  trophies  scars 

And  death  amid  the  prison  damps. 

The  instinctive  passion  to  be  free 
Alone  prevents  our  death  in  life ; 
And  in  a  never-ending  strife 

We  fight  with  foes  we  cannot  see. 


Beusis  77 


XVII. 

For  Nature,  Nature  lies  asleep 
Within  her  far  creative  halls, 
Where  Being's  ocean  swells  and  falls 

And  subtle  currents  roll  and  sweep. 

She  lies  encouched  'neath  vaults  sublime. 
And  held  in  sleep's  eventless  spell :  — 
Silence  —  but  that  clepsydras  tell 

In  century-drops  the  lapse  of  time. 

Vague  eons  stretch  their  boundless  plains 
To  years  when  first  her  sleep  began ; 
She  slumbers  since  the  birth  of  man, 

And  now  his  aged  century  wanes. 

'T  is  thus  the  creative  throe  recoils, 
And  weary  pain  is  slept  away ; 
For  action,  weakening,  will  slay 

Unless  sweet  rest  repair  the  spoils. 


7%  Eleusis 


XVIII. 

Yet  now  her  breasts  upsurge,  she  flings 
Aside  the  robe  whose  touch  is  pain, 
And  the  great  pangs  of  birth  again 

Awake  gi*eat  Nature  queen  of  kings. 

Yet  who  of  mortals  may  behold 

Her  fructive  waking  undismayed, 
And  gaze  on  Nature  disarrayed 

Without  a  terror  uncontrolled ! 

Her  latest  children  will  dismiss 

Our  lives  and  memory  to  decay ; 
For  Nature,  wakening,  will  slay 

Her  earlier  progeny  for  this. 

So  Life  advances  ;  Death  defies 
A  full  and  perfect-rounded  hour, 
And  the  strong  man's  divinest  power 

Leaps  to  new  being  when  he  dies. 


Eletisis  7g 

The  eternal  cycle  stately  rounds 

From  node  to  node  its  mighty  track; 
No  century  slides  completely  back 

When  out  its  solemn  requiem  sounds ; 

But  all  this  arc  of  life  we  know 

Shall  meet  and  live  in  one  divine ;  — 
Sons  keep  the  father's  storied  line, 

And  Birth  gives  Death  a  master-blow. 


8o  Beusis 


XIX. 

O  MYSTERY  when  the  first  red  sun 

Looked  o'er  the  world's  extremest  east, 
And  mystery  when  the  solemn  feast 

Proclaimed  Eleusis'  rite  was  done ; 

0  mystery  now  on  western  wing 

High  brooding  over  present  time, — 
In  every  age  and  every  clime 
Thou  art  the  curse  of  everything ! 

Yet  who  can  chain  the  eternal  mind, 

And  say  to  Knowledge,  '  Hither,  stay  I 
Pass  not  the  precincts  of  the  day ; 

To  night  and  mystery  be  blind ! ' 

And  so  I  search  and  seek  my  brain, 
Each  dusky  corner  scan  and  sweep. 
Till  'mid  the  labyrinth  dark  and  deep 

1  turn,  and  lose  the  clew  again. 


Eleiisis  8i 

Yet  who,  once  failing,  leaves  the  quest, 
Nor  baffled  hither,  flies  beyond  ? 
Some  ocean  beats  a  golden  strond, 

A.nd  laves  the  Islands  of  the  Blest. 


82  Eleush 


XX. 

SiNO,  river  reeds,  a  hopeful  lay, 

To  quell  the  dirge  and  wail  of  woe 
That  sighs  :  '  The  centuries  come  and  go, 

And  Death  is  sure  though  Life  delay.' 

Sing,  as  ye  sit  by  yonder  stream 

Whose  sunless  waters  rise  and  fall : 
*  Though  Death  may  seem  the  lord  of  all, 
Life  is  the  substance,  Death  the  dream.' 

And  let  your  loudest  singing  bear 

Some  strains  of  hope  to  sweeten  pain : 
'  Death's  darkest  moment  is  not  vain ; 
In  death  is  life,  in  death  the  heir. 

*  Through  death  new  hope  and  life  arise ; 

Through  death  all  weakness  grows  to  strength ; 
Through  death  soul-striving  finds  at  length 
The  untrammelled  power  that  in  it  lies.' 


Beusis  83 

Sing  thus,  O  reeds  with  dulcet  throat, 
Where  Life's  unending  river  glides, 
Till  those  diverse  and  sullen  tides 

To  one  harmonious  current  float. 


84  Beusis 


XXI. 

Yet,  harsh  Queen  Nature,  what  is  this  ? 
Is  thine  a  breast  without  a  heart, 
Or  mine  a  soul  that  lacks  the  art 

To  gain  the  blessing  of  thy  kiss  ? 

I  weep,  I  yield,  I  plead,  I  pray : 

Thy  lips  and  Reason's  answer  not ; 
And  the  deep  anguish  of  my  lot 

Is  more  to-day  than  yesterday. 

Yet  is  there  something  still  unknown. 
Some  all-indwelling  bond  of  life, 
Some  mystic  master-key  to  strife, 

Some  purpose  powerful  to  condone, 

Some  sympathy  no  eye  can  see, 

Or  some  imperial  perfect  spell, — 
Life's  soft  and  tranquil  madrigal 

To  make  all  discord  harmony. 


Eleusis  8^ 


XXII. 

Sweet-smelling  lily,  sadly  turn 

Thy  snow-white  face  from  sun  and  sky ; 
Thy  sister's  funeral  train  goes  by 

To  mock  the  hope  of  her  return. 

The  cypress  sobs  beside  the  wall 
To  see  the  passion-flower  decline, 
And  the  high-throated  eglantine 

Droops  as  it  sees  its  sisters  fall. 

And  roses,  borne  from  tender  stem 
To  merry  brides  who  wed  to-day. 
Hear  the  sad  voice  of  desolate  May 

In  love's  low  chants  of  requiem. 

The  speaking  eye  of  heartsease  bright. 
The  rhythmic  rustle  of  the  hay, 
The  last  low  words  of  dying  day, 

The  wordless  voices  of  the  night. 


86  Beusis 

Respond  to  other  voices,  make 

To  rustling  hay  an  answer  sweet, 
And  feel  all  victory  and  defeat 

For  Love's  divine  victorious  sake. 

To  me,  in  funeral  wrappings  laid, 

May  voices  whisper  through  the  turf ; 
And  to  the  sailor  say  the  surf, 

*  Dead  sailor,  do  not  be  afraid  !  ' 

Or  I  on  spiritual  pinion  near 

May  hover  when  the  garden  noons, 
And  in  the  swift  recurrent  Junes 

Breathe  in  the  fragrant  atmosphere. 

And  clothed  in  fragrance,  far  away 
Go  incense-like  to  rise  and  float 
Where  constellated  stars  remote 

Move  stately  on  their  mighty  way. 


Eleusis  87 


XXIII. 

O  STAR  within  whose  power  and  scope 
My  destiny  defines  her  arc, 
Within  thy  gleaming  orb  I  mark 

No  golden  characters  of  hope. 

This  astroscope  whereon  is  read 

The  heavenly  aspects  at  my  birth, 

Hath  naught  of  truth  and  naught  of  worth 

In  what  upon  its  cones  is  said. 

A  happy  destiny  was  mine, 

As  here  the  fair  conjunctions  show ; 

But  life  for  me  is  endless  woe, 
And  sorrow  roundeth  her  design. 

O  star,  and  spirit  regnant  there, 

Thro'  these  dark  shades  and  brooding  night 
Flash  out  in  glorious  words  of  light 

The  perfect  talisman  of  despair ! 


88  Eleusis 


XXIV. 

And  can  there  be  a  heart  that  burns 
As  mine  'neath  this  or  foreign  sun  ? 
An  there  be  such  and  only  one 

Who  for  the  same  deep  secrets  yearns, 

Oh,  let  it  hither  send  me  word 

That  twin  it  looks,  and  twin  it  longs 
To  sing  with  me  diviner  songs 

And  music  all  too  rarely  heard. 

For  I  have  searched  this  many  a  year, 
And  many  lands  have  trod  in  vain. 
To  find  some  sweet  responsive  strain 

In  any  clime  or  hemisphere. 

O  twin-born  soul !  if  far  and  wide 

Thou  dwellest,  come  and  dwell  with  me ; 
For  two  are  more  than  one,  and  we  — 

Loud  singing  may  be  heard  outside ! 


Beusis  89 


XXV. 

So,  Sympathy,  thy  perfect  key 

To  Nature's  touch  is  slow  to  sound ; 
Or  is  the  secret  spell  unf  ound 

That  tunes  thee  to  thy  full  degree  ? 

I  deemed  it  found ;  and  yet  in  vain 
My  spirit  strove  with  striving  strong 
To  lead,  like  Orpheus,  trees  along: 

The  lyre  was  echoless  again. 

And  hills  whereto  my  feet  aspired, 

And  seas  whereon  my  shallop  sailed, 
With  baffling  purpose  countervailed 

The  zeal  wherewith  my  heart  was  fired. 

O  fellow-feeling  for  the  weak, 

And  inner  kinship, —  if  ye  dwell 

On  earth,  if  down  from  heaven  ye  fell. 

From  human  hearts  and  souls  ye  speak ! 


CANTO   III. 


PRELUDE. 


My  early  Gods  in  fragments  fall, 

My  temple  doors  are  prostrate  east ; 
Rear  up,  O  great  Iconoclast, 

Some  God  to  fill  the  vacant  hall ! 

My  lingering  steps  still  bear  me  on 
And  past  the  gates  that  ruined  lie. 
As  some  ghost  Persian  haunting  nigh 

The  archless  ports  of  Ctesiphon. 

I  glance  where  vacant  windows  yawn, 
I  turn  my  eyes  where  altars  were ; 
But  altar,  rite,  and  minister. 

And  all  the  rest,  are  gone^  are  gone. 

I  see  the  spectral  form  of  Will, 

And  Nature's  phantom  hovering  near ; 

And  from  their  wild  exultant  jeer 
I  pass  my  destiny  to  fulfill. 


94  Beusis 

Rear  up,  O  great  Iconoclast, 

Some  God  to  fill  the  vacant  shrine, 
And  let  some  master  heart  divine 

How  ruined  hope  may  be  recast. 

Cry  out,  great-hearted  hope  in  things, 
And  silence  disappointment's  wail: 
'  Though  triply  Daedalus  shall  fail, 
He  moulds  at  last  unfailing  wings/ 

Cry  out  that  longing  has  its  use, 

That  failure  is  not  always  crime ; 
Cry  out  that  hope's  avoidless  prime 

Shall  shame  the  foes  that  now  traduce. 

Cry  out  that  Reason  cannot  tell, 

And  point  to  Nature's  listless  sleep ; 
And  then  with  mighty  fingers  sweep 

The  human  heart's  melodious  shell. 

Allay  the  longing  born  in  me. 

My  heart  to  thine  completely  wed ; 
And  bring  in  all  tliis  discord's  stead 

The  harmonious  strain  of  sympathy. 


Beiisis  95 

I  rise  to  patience's  higher  plane 

On  baffled  purpose's  strengthened  wings, 
And  thro'  my  new-wrought  sense  of  things 

Discern  in  loss  the  seed  of  gain. 

Across  the  narrower  world,  below 

The  close  horizons  of  my  birth, 

I  see  a  sun-enveloped  earth, 
And  midnight  into  morning  flow  ; 

I  see  that  all  things  are  of  kin. 
And  move  together ;  and  I  feel 
That  the  great  throbs  of  woe  and  weal 

Move  from  one  heart  they  centre  in. 

And  so  to  human  hearts  I  fly ; 

In  these  all  human  joy  is  found  ; 

For  thus  the  universe  is  bound 
To  love  immeasurably  high. 


CANTO   III. 


I. 

0  HINGE  of  Memory,  turn  for  me, 

And  fling  the  gates  of  Wonder  wide ; 
Reveal  the  secret  things  that  hide 

Behind  thy  screen  of  mystery. 

What  were  the  springs  that  moved  intent 
In  men  of  past  heroic  worth  ? 
Did  Fellow-feeling  rule  the  earth. 

And  Pity  brood  o'er  each  event  ? 

Oh,  turn  for  me  your  mystic  door ; 

Create  anew  the  things  of  old ; 

And  show  the  mines  of  virgin  gold 
That  now,  alas,  are  known  no  more ! 


g8  Beusis 


I  SEE  the  Athenian  triremes  gay 

With  pomp  of  sail  and  pomp  of  oar, 
Full-winged  for  far  Ortygia's  shore, 

Float  out  the  blue  Saronic  bay. 

They  pass  the  isle  that  Pelops  named, 
By  soft  Calabria,  and  where 
Enceladus'  condign  despair 

From  Etna's  heaving  bosom  flamed. 

And  forth  the  Dorian  galleys  ride. 
And  high  is  heard  the  battle-song. 
And  for  the  phantom  of  a  wrong 

Th'  Hellenic  truce  is  set  aside. 

Weep,  Athens,  from  thy  gated  pile 

O'er  grace,  and  youth,  and  glory  dead, 
For  to  the  victors'  stately  tread 

Resounds  the  Syracusan  isle. 


Eleusis  gg 

Ah,  Hellas,  thou  wert  then  undone ! 
The  bond  of  birth  was  rent  in  twain, 
And  daggers  drawn  'gainst  brothers  stain 

That  common  lineage  of  the  Sun. 


lOO  Beusis 


m. 


I  LAY  upon  the  Palatine 

When  Evening  lit  her  changeless  dome, 
And  felt  the  mighty  hand  of  Rome 

Enfold  and  clasp  itself  in  mine. 

She  drew  me  where  exalts  on  high 
The  hill  of  Jove's  departed  reign ; 
And  o'er  the  Tiber's  templed  plain 

The  Past  swept  living  to  my  eye. 

Around  me  Rome  exultant  rings 

With  praise  and  shout  of  high  acclaim, 
As  in  liis  car  her  son  of  Fame 

New  wreaths  to  deck  her  grandeur  brings. 

And  on  and  on  the  pageant  rolls, 

And  up  the  wide  Flaminian  street, 
With  roar  of  Rome's  returning  feet 

And  shouts  of  glad  Italian  souls ; 


Eleusis  lof 

And  on  and  on  through  seas  of  men ; 

^lo  Triumphe/  Vesta  cries, 

'  lo  Triumphe,'  loud  replies 
The  Forum's  strident  voice  again. 

In  Jove's  resplendent  robes  he  gleams, — 
A  fettered  king  before  him  goes ; 
And  one  has  weight  of  mighty  woes, 

And  one  has  glory  more  than  dreams. 

And  now  tRe  templed  height  uprears : 
O  Hall  of  Fame,  O  Vale  of  Dread ! 
And  on  and  on  the  Triumph's  tread 

Goes  up  the  storied  path  of  years. 

Draw,  crownless  king,  thy  deepest  breath, 

For  few,  alas,  to  thee  remain ; 

Nor  will  this  Roman  lord  disdain 
To  seal  his  triumph  with  thy  death. 

For  him  the  ascending  Sacred  Way, 
And  glad  Quirinus'  stately  hall ; 
For  thee  to  dungeon-depths  to  fall, 

And  Death's  dominion  of  decay. 


!02  Eleusis 


IV. 

I  SEE  the  centuries  to  my  own ; 

The  groans  of  nations  fall  and  rise, 

The  Hun  a  triple  foe  defies, 
The  Groth  and  Vandal  are  overthrown, 

And  Saxons  die  to  Frankish  laniee, 
Byzantine  lords  their  captives  slay, 
And  Syria  sees  in  proud  array 

The  Crescent  and  the  Cross  advance. 

The  Danube's  floods  in  woe  return, 
The  Rhine  goes  groaning  to  the  sea. 
And  France  in  woeful  panoply 

Beholds  the  haughty  Kremlin  burn ; 

And  Europe  weeps  from  east  to  west 
Above  her  broad  sepulchral  plain, 
And  crimson  poppies  kill  tlie  grain 

That  springs  where  slaughtered  myriads  rest. 


Eleusis  103 

0  Hope !  the  Past  was  still  the  same, 
Nor  bowed  she  down  to  human  need ; 
In  Greece,  in  Rome,  in  Europe's  creed, 

Self  was  the  one  Imperial  name ; 

No  fellow-feeling  fired  her  heart, 
She  trod  defiant  on  her  way, 
And  built  on  kings  of  yesterday 

The  shortrlived  triumphs  of  her  art. 


i04  Eleusis 


V. 


Limn  me,  soul-painter,  on  your  screen 
The  transient  passions  of  a  day 
Which  like  sun-shadows  slide  and  play 

Across  the  soul  of  serf  or  queen ; 

Emblazon  men's  disguisM  crime, 
Illumine  passion's  secret  plan. 
And  trace  the  hidden  life  of  man 

Through  its  mysterious  paradigm  ; 

Swift  thoughts  that  half-way  born  expire, 
Swift  hopes  that  faint  ere  noon  is  high ; 
Enthusiasms  that  must  die 

In  bitter  tears,  in  bitter  fire ; 

Fair  visions  fading,  sunrise  slain, 
Mirages  leading  where  they  will, 
And  dreams  whose  empty  pictures  fill 

The  solemn  halls  of  self-disdain ;  — 


Eleusts  10^ 

Limn  these,  soul-painter,  while  I  sing ; 
The  secret  thought  for  me  portray, 
And  bring  to  light  of  living  day 

The  hidden  self  of  everything. 


io6  Eleusis 


VL 


I  WATCHED  the  elder  men  resign   • 
The  reins  of  family  and  of  state, 
Their  gray  hairs  making  consecrate 

To  reverence  as  a  holy  shrine. 

And  age  reared  up  their  Capitol, 
Wherein  their  purer  vision  saw 
The  perfect  reading  of  the  law 

Whereby  the  man  must  rise  or  fall. 

And  sitting  there  with  high  intent, 

With  treasures  plucked  from  many  years, 
I  deemed  them  victors  over  fears 

And  lords  of  consummate  content. 

Yet  when  with  reverent  voice  I  plead, 

*  Oh,  give  your  magic  wand  to  me ! ' 

*  We  hold  no  sure  and  mystic  key,' 
Their  weeping  voices  sadly  said. 


Eleusis  loy 


VII. 

I  WATCHED  the  young  men  of  my  time, 
The  hope  and  harvest  of  the  State, 
Whose  strength  proclaims  republics  great 

And  makes  Progression's  tower  upclimb ; 

I  watched  them  reach  that  noble  year 
That  stamps  the  man  in  perfect  flower, 
And  take  the  magic  key  to  power 

Untouched  by  hope  and  dead  to  fear. 

To  banquet  halls  their  weakness  sped ; 

They  scorned  the  power  their  birthright  gave, 
And,  swept  on  Pleasure's  fickle  wave. 

Soon  lay  among  the  nameless  dead. 


to8  Eleusis 


VIII. 

But  what  these  words  ?     Shall  I  presume  — 
I,  who  am  only  neophyte  — 
To  say  what  is  or  is  not  right, 

And  seize  the  great  king-eagle's  plume  ? 

Yet  the  impassioned  soul  must  give 

Expression  to  the  impassioned  thought, 
No  matter  if  it  come  to  naught : 

Better  to  die  than  dumb  to  live. 

Perennial  springs  of  vigorous  flow 

Must  find  some  outlet  for  their  swell ; 
Repressing  cannot  serve  to  quell. 

And  when  winds  must,  then  winds  will  blow. 


^     OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 

Bemts 109 


IX. 


One  flies  in  chariot  to  the  goal, 

And  others  toil  with  weary  feet ; 
And  one,  too  proud  to  make  retreat, 

Pours  out  in  agony  his  soul. 

Nor  stops  the  chariot-borne,  nor  stays, 
O'er  prostrate  brother  drives  him  by, 
And  with  the  victor's  battle-cry 

Exults  to  conquer  though  he  slays. 

As  onward  fly  the  eternal  years 

Unchecked  by  joy,  unheeding  pain. 
As  o'er  the  heavenly  battle-plain 

Speed  on  the  meteor-slaying  spheres. 

'T  is  thus  imperious  purpose  flings 

All  else  but  self-enthronement  down. 
And  plucks  his  bauble  of  a  crown 

From  out  the  hands  of  slaughtered  kings. 


/  to  Eleusis 

Yet  'mid  a  myriad  cold  and  chill 

May  grow  one  rich  and  generous  heart, 
That  gives  a  rich  and  generous  part, 

And  with  a  rich  and  generous  will ; 

Like  some  resplendent  star  he  glows 

Through  rarely-parted  cloud  and  mist, 
Till  with  his  golden  lustre  kissed 

The  world  with  joyance  ovei^ows. 

Such  then,  when  found,  as  victor  sing, 
Or  chariot-borne  or  pilgrim  meek ; 
For  tender  helping  of  the  weak 

Proclaims  the  helper  more  than  king. 


Eleusis  HI 


X. 

Ingenuous  heart  were  rare  to  find, 
And  action  answering  to  the  will 
More  rare ;  but  aye  the  rarest  still 

A  heart  to  selfish  longings  blind. 

For  joy  will  hide  a  brother's  pain ; 

Our  own  defies  the  world  to  match ; 

And  close  is  fastened  up  the  latch 
When  falls  the  sudden  burst  of  rain. 

0  self-idolatry  !     I  hold 

All  pagan  worships  less  abject; 

And  no  delusion  thus  has  wreckt 
The  empires  and  the  men  of  old. 

It  slays  the  hope  of  growing  youth, 
It  withers  all  the  growing  grain, 
And  makes  the  passionate  music  vain 

That  sounds  from  out  the  lips  of  Truth. 


ii2  Eleusis 


XI. 

Am  I  or  am  I  not  distraught  ? 

Or  hath  my  fancy  leaped  its  bound, 
And  deemed  the  echo  of  a  sound 

The  mighty  organ-peal  of  thought  ? 

Is  there  or  is  there  not  the  prime, 
The  perfect  ripeness  of  content 
Embalmed  within  each  sad  event, 

Or  in  the  manifold  of  crime  ? 

Is  there  or  is  there  not  concealed 

A  purer  joy  in  every  woe, 

Whose  mystic  meaning  I  shall  know 
When  thought  to  knowledge  is  revealed  ? 

Divine  me,  master,  where  the  heart 
To  full  perennial  bloom  expands, 
A  glorious  joy  to  many  lands 

And  heaven's  fairest  counterpart. 


Eleusis  113 


XII. 

For  who  hath  loved  another  heart 

With  perfect  manhood's  strongest  strength, 
Nor  found  it  traitorous  at  length 

To  practice  some  deceitful  art  ? 

O  friend  grown  falser  than  the  sea, 
And  falser  far  than  fickle  wind, 
Wherein  more  deeply  have  I  sinned 

Than  in  my  full  belief  in  thee  ? 

Across  the  world  of  yore  we  fled 

To  realms  that  dip  in  southern  waves. 
Or  where  in  ice-encumbered  graves 

Repose  the  daring  and  the  dead. 

And  all  thy  inmost  thoughts  were  mine, 
Our  hearts  in  perfect  rhythm  beat, 
And  to  my  souFs  most  sacred  seat 

Thou  hadst  the  magic  countersign. 


ii4  Eleusis 

High  thoughts  by  emulous  action  grew 
To  loftier  stature  ;  far  and  near 
Through  earth's  sublimest  atmosphere 

On  mutual  wings  our  longings  flew, 

And  near  and  far  impetuous  sought 
No  goal  this  side  the  perfect  one, — 
The  true  and  everlasting  sun, 

The  mighty  master-soul  of  Thought. 

Yet  false  as  fair !  I  lay  at  need, 
As  one  who  in  the  desert  track 
Of  some  lost  caravan  must  lack 

The  sighing  shelter  of  a  reed. 

So  faith  in  human  heart  expired, 

And  through  the  earth  alone  I  trod, 
Till,  doubting  men,  I  doubted  God 

Were  false  as  those  his  will  had  sired. 

For  more  than  swift  volcanic  fire, 

And  more  than  tides'  unstinted  flow, 
Or  the  deep  poignancy  of  woe 

When  Nature  builds  the  funeral  pyre, 


Eleusis  ti$ 

Far  more  than  these  rolls  in  to  land 
The  tide  of  Self,  destroying  all  — 
The  baron  in  his  haughty  hall, 

Or  fisher  resting  on  the  sand. 

Heart-life  is  Death^s  superbest  prey, 

His  conquest  treading  all  things  down, 
And  in  his  gem-incrusted  crown 

Shines  forth  with  lustre  like  the  day. 


ii6  Eleusis 


XIII. 

But  judging  men  by  outward  deed 

Were  shallow  judgment,  for  the  thought 
Gives  surer  rule ;  the  rest  is  naught, — 

But  violets  spring  from  violet-seed. 

Still  life  is  mystery  at  its  best ; 

Not  subtlest  hearing  serves  to  tell 
The  sound  of  yonder  minster-bell 

When  winds  are  blowing  out  the  west. 

And  so  I  deem  that  songs  divine 
Ajfe  sung  by  every  human  heart, 
Though  I  may  lack  the  master's  art 

Of  bringing  them  to  living  rhyme. 


Eleusis  iiy 


XIV. 

And  yet  to  some  a  subtler  sense 
Is  heritage  from  Nature's  hand, 
Whereby  their  fellows'  hearts  are  scanned 

Despite  their  barriers  of  defense. 

To  such  the  web  more  intricate 

Of  human  thought  reveals  its  clue, 
And  keen  their  insight  to  construe 

What  others  bare  enigmas  rate. 

These  measure  hearts,  and  fathom  seas 
Of  mental  ebb  and  moral  flow, 
And  by  unerring  plummet  know 

What  purpose  rules,  what  motives  please ; 

Thus  holding  hidden  reins  of  power 

They  leap  to  empire ;  hap  they  climb 
To  thrones  commensurate  with  time ; 

Or  wear  the  warrior's  laurel  flower ; 


n8  Eleusis 

Or,  nobler,  up  the  esplanade 

Whereon  great  Learning  rears  her  dome 
They  go  sublime,  and  find  a  home 

Eternal  in  her  proud  arcade. 

Imperial  pediments  uphold 

Their  sculptured  effigies,  and  high 
Memorial  columns  kiss  the  sky. 

While  history  writes  their  names  in  gold. 

The  true  Illuminati  they ; 

Their  demons  not  the  shades  that  prest 
At  some  magician's  base  behest 

From  the  deep  regions  of  decay. 

But  such  as  his  who  far  —  so  far  — 
Transcended  all  the  storied  past. 
Out-reasoned  Reason,  and  at  last 

Glows  ancient  Athens'  brightest  star. 


Eleusis  up 


XV. 

Yet,  sage  who  trod  the  storied  shade 

Of  Academe  in  days  intense 

With  Reason's  ripest  evidence, 
And  felt  proud  Learning's  accolade, 

O  hemlock-slain  !  for  whom  a  tear 

AVas  dropped  by  Reason  on  her  throne, 
Thou  couldst  not  pierce  the  deep  unknown 

Or  see  beyond  the  funeral  bier ; 

And  raising  ladders  to  the  sky. 

Or  casting  stepping-stones  where  glide 
The  silent  river  and  its  tide. 

Thou  couldst  not  reason  out  —  to  die ! 


!20  Eleusis 


XVI. 

I  DAKE  not  say  (as  he  who  sings 
The  proudest  Teuton  of  them  all) 
That  I  in  Learning's  royal  hall 

Have  sat  the  proudest  of  her  kings, 

Have  swayed  an  empire  broad  and  free 
Within  her  ever-sunned  domain, 
Yet  found  the  joys  of  knowledge  vain, 

And  vain  the  pleasures  of  degree ; 

Yet,  as  my  feebler  feet  have  trod 

The  paths  which  greater  victors  wore, 
I  see  the  graves  of  many  a  score 

And  everywhere  the  hillocked  sod. 

The  way  is  hard,  the  laurels  few ; 

The  heart  shrinks  up  as  swells  the  mind ; 

And  gloomy  Care  sits  close  behind 
The  rider  as  he  struggles  through. 


Eleusis  i2i 


XVII. 

Be  crowned,  O  Knowledge  I  hail  thee  king, 
Yet  curse  thy  stern  relentless  reign. 
For  at  thy  haughty  feet  in  vain 

In  death  of  hope  we  weep  and  cling. 

For  tombs  that  line  the  ^gean  sand, 

The  caves  where  wrapt  Egyptians  sleep, 
Gray  clods  that  nameless  victors  heap 

In  fair  Ausonia's  ruined  land, — 

All  these  in  ghostly  voice  combine 

To  sing,  '  Ah,  Learning !  empty  name ! 
The  true,  the  pure  Promethean  flame 

Has  in  it  something  more  divine. 

*In  portico,  in  grove,  alone. 

We  sought  the  mystic  key  to  find. 
And  learned  that  not  the  noblest  mind 

Can  pass  a  limit  of  its  own. 


§22  Beusis 

*  Remembered  sound  our  names  along 
The  echoing  vistas,  yet  our  fame 
Is  but  the  entrancement  of  a  name 

Embalmed  in  sweet  melodic  song. 

*  And  what  to  us  the  haughty  school 

That  bears  our  names,  or  poet's  pen  ? 
We  lived  our  little  span,  and  then 
Who  knows  philosopher  from  fool  ? ' 


Beusis  123 


XVIII. 

I  SOMETIMES  think,  on  lower  planes 
Of  thought  a  better  bliss  is  found, 
And  music  of  a  simpler  sound 

To  greater  harmony  attains. 

With  greater  heart-life  themes  upswell 
Whose  rhythms  less  occultly  knit ;  — 
Yet  may  it  be  the  best  are  writ 

In  characters  I  cannot  tell. 

So  love  in  humbler  hearts  is  strong ; 
The  subtle  music  from  the  skies 
Whose  deep  enchantment  holds  the  wise 

Will  silence  earth's  divinest  song ; 

And  so,  who  looks  and  longs  to  find 
Life's  sweetest  nectar  can  but  fail 
If,  giving  heart  to  phantom  pale, 

He  leaves  love's  substance  quite  behind. 


124  Eleusis 

Spirit  and  passion  intertwine 

By  more  intense  than  chemic  art, 
And  who  would  live  with  perfect  heart 

Must  mingle  water  with  the  wine, — 

Must  mingle  each  in  due  degree, 

And  gain  with  strength  a  royal  grace, 
Till  life  be  as  a  golden  vase 

Graved  by  Firenze's  prodigy. 


Beusis  12^ 


XIX. 

Proud  heart,  that,  scorning  human  ties, 
In  knowledge  seeks  diviner  bliss, 
And  holds  affection's  clinging  kiss 

As  unbecoming, —  art  thou  wise  ? 

Thou  pressest  on  to  undertake 

A  problem  greater  than  thy  skill, 
Howe'er  transcendent,  can  fulfill, 

And,  failing,  dar'st  to  censure  fate. 

Give  ear  to  Nature,  lest  she  turn 

To  fight  and  slay  thy  strong  desire, 
And  burning  thee  with  inward  fire 

Consign  thee  to  dishonored  urn. 


126  Eleusis 


XX. 

O  FATHER,  whose  white-frosted  head 

Repeats  the  flight  of  years  and  strength, 
Hast  thou  in  age  discerned  at  length 

How  soul  may  with  its  like  be  wed  ? 

And,  gazing  o'er  the  scenes  that  throng 
The  memory-chambers  of  the  brain, 
Dost  feel  the  greater  joy  or  pain 

In  that  thy  life  has  burned  so  long  ? 

What  secret  mysteries  have  been  learned, 
What  deep  arcana  fathomed  out  ? 
Art  child  of  hope,  or  slave  of  doubt. 

As  toward  the  grave  thy  face  is  turned  ? 

Methinks  thy  smile  with  proof  were  rife : 

Enough  thy  humble  attitude ; 

Enough  the  daily  blessing  sued, 
And  all  the  tenor  of  thy  life. 


Eleusis  127 


XXI. 

And  what  of  her  whose  tenderness 
Exceedeth  all  the  world  beside, 
A  glorious  never-ending  tide 

That  heaven  sendeth  out  to  bless  I 

O  heart  wherein  all  virtue  lies  I 
O  mother-hand  !  O  loving  face ! 
God's  favorite  earthly  dwelling-place 

Is  in  the  heaven  of  thy  eyes, 

Of  purity  the  flower  and  bud, 

And  love's  divinest  type  and  boon ; 
Life  turns  with  thee  from  night  to  noon, 

And  sees  thee  ever  doing  good. 


!28  Eleusis 


XXII. 

Sweet  confidence  that  brothers  binds, 
Untold  the  sister's  tender  love, 
Which,  like  a  blessing  from  above, 

Through  all  the  warp  of  manhood  winds ; 

The  ready  hands,  the  unwearied  heart, 
And  smile  concealing  often  pain, 
The  tears  that  like  the  gentle  rain 

In  swift  and  ready  pity  start ; 

Though  all  my  life  may  seem  undone. 
Though  woes  impend  in  days  to  be. 
Preserve,  kind  heaven,  unto  me, 

This  earthly  blessing,  if  but  one. 


Eleusis  i2g 


XXIII. 

0  DEAR,  dead,  early  love  of  mine ! 

In  tears  and  weeping  let  me  sing 
How  Death  is  lord  of  everything, 
And  conquers  what  seems  most  divine. 

The  days  are  dull  with  dripping  rain ; 

The  stars  have  wandered  from  their  spheres ; 

The  phantom  forms  of  buried  years 
Come  forth  to  mock  my  soul  again ; 

1  hear  the  footsteps  of  the  dead 

Go  echoing  through  the  silent  night, 
And  to  my  sublimated  sight 
Returns  the  bride  of  yore  I  wed. 

My  heart  in  beatings  swift  recalls 
The  perfect  union  of  my  youth, — 
Till  the  deep  mantle  of  the  truth 

Dispels  my  vision  as  it  falls. 


tjo  Eleusis 


XXIV. 

To  LOVE,  to  lose,  again  to  meet, 

To  clasp  with  rapture  to  the  heart, 
And  then  behold  our  joy  depart, — 

Oh,  such  is  love's  condign  defeat. 

For  love  was  mine  in  days  of  yore ; 

And  then,  with  clinging  voice  and  hand, 
She  sailed  from  this  inclement  land 

To  south  and  sunny  island-shore. 

The  days  passed  by,  the  year  grew  old ; 

Full  many  suns  they  rose  and  set ; 

And  many  moons,  their  crescents  wet. 
Came  dripping  up  from  Ocean's  cold. 

Before  her  ship  with  happy  sail 

Came  heaven-wafted  o'er  the  sea. 
And  my  dear  love  came  back  to  me 

Witli  cheek  that  was  no  longer  pale. 


Eleusis  1)1 


XXV. 

For  love  will  live,  though  lovers  part ; 

And  distance  makes  the  absent  sweet ; 

And  hearts  that  once  together  beat 
Nor  time  nor  space  can  tear  apart. 

And  eve  is  sweetest  following  toil ; 

Divinest  joy  from  sorrow  springs ; 

And  an  intenser  sense  of  things 
Indwells  the  mystery  of  recoil. 

But  joy's  supremest  moment  flies 

Like  some  swift  bird,  or  swifter  dream, 
Or  falling  star  whose  dazzling  beam 

Lights  up  the  heavenly  slope  and  dies. 

And  so  my  love  athwart  my  life 

Passed,  leaving  radiant  memories  there ; 

Sweet  memory  but  intense  despair 
And  sorrow's  carnival  of  strife. 


/  52  Eleusis 

For  ere  the  wedding  year  grew  hale, 
Her  soft  caresses  grew  more  weak ; 
O  love  I  O  hope !  I  cannot  speak 

Of  what  I  could  not  countervail. 


Beusis  ijj 


XXVI. 

How  dear  your  memory,  forest  wide, 
Beneath  whose  ample  linden-lines 
Clad  in  the  wild  grape's  gracious  vines 

We  met  that  golden  eventide. 

So  sweet  the  songs  she  sang  at  will 

To  charm  the  listening  woodland  round 
Meseemed  some  glorious  nymph  had  crowned 

Her  lover  by  the  sylvan  rill. 

And,  lightly  parting  boughs  that  meet, 
Unseen  I  saw  her  where  she  sate 
Throned  on  the  golden  leaves  that  wait 

The  bitter  coming  of  the  sleet. 

O  joyous  eve,  O  royal  hours 

That  brought  the  prize  and  palm  of  life ! 

Ye  fled  as  flies  in  Autumn  strife 
The  gay  queen-carnival  of  flowers. 


iJ4  Beusis 


XXVII. 

So  SOFTLY  kiss,  religious  yew, 

The  velvet  of  yon  hillock's  crest ; 
Breathe  gently,  zephyrs,  from  your  west, 

And  fragrant  leaves,  wild  roses,  strew, — 

For  she  is  lying  here ;  above 

Weeps  always  pensive  asphodel, 
And  fond  memorial  verses  tell 

The  birth,  the  life,  the  death  of  love. 

For  hope  has  fled  with  love  away ; 

My  Summer  yields  to  Autumn  rain ; 

And  ere  the  Winter  bow  again 
Before  the  rose-decked  wheels  of  May, 

The  cold  pine  branches  as  they  wave 
Shall  dirge  her  lately  frozen  mound, 
And  winding-sheets  of  snow  be  bound 

About  her  lonely  northern  grave. 


Eleusis  .  7^3 

Give  ear,  O  wind  that  tireless  flows 
An  ocean  round  the  whirling  world, 
Be  not  in  roughest  billows  hurled 

Above  her  canopy  of  snows ; 

Sing,  softly  sing,  and  do  not  weep 
In  anger  with  the  giant  Death, 
But  come  with  music  on  thy  breath 

To  soothe  her  where  she  lies  asleep. 

But  me,  no  suns  can  warm  anew ; 

No  song  outsing  my  threnody : 

For  she  was  all  in  all  to  me. 
And  I,  O  love,  was  all  to  you. 


Ij6  Eleusis 


XXVIII. 

Yet  wherefore  sorrow  ?     Surely  this 
Were  better  far  than  life's  deep  pain, 
And  sweeter  than  the  world's  disdain 

Is  Nature's  pure  untrammelled  kiss. 

0  eyes  whose  glance  was  all  delight ! 

O  heart  that  sympathetic  beat ! 
O  lips  and  kisses  swift  and  sweet ! 
So  soon  to  lose  ye, — was  it  right  ? 

1  cast  me  down  along  thy  side ;  — 

O  heaven,  if  thee  I  did  not  dread, 
Far  better,  better  to  be  dead 
Than  live  when  love  must  be  denied. 

For  nowhere  find  I  heart  to  feel 
For  mine  in  this  intenser  grief, 
And  out  no  human  soul  relief 

Comes  swiftly  answering  my  appeal. 


Beusis  .  /J7 

As  one  who  in  the  silent  night 

Grows  weak  with  j)hantoms  strange  and  dire. 

And  feels  a  conquerless  desire 
For  human  touch  or  human  sight, 

So  I,  with  sorrow  bowed,  demand 
Some  word  to  give  me  half  relief, 
And  in  the  trembling  of  my  grief 

Would  clasp  some  kindly  human  hand. 

Yet  Sorrow  bids  me  live  alone ; 

My  castle-gate  no  guests  unclose ; 

And  the  sole  friend  who  feels  my  woes 
Lies  under  yon  escutcheoned  stone. 

I  weep  for  higher  aid  than  comes 
From  human  love's  intensest  tie  ; 
'T  is  heaven  alone  can  calm  the  cry 

Of  heart-bereaved  and  widowed  ones. 


ij8  Eleusis 


XXIX. 

So  LOVE  has  failed  me !     O  divine, 
My  weary  spirit,  is  there  more 
In  human  heart's  most  inmost  core 

Than  love  when  love  and  life  combine  ? 

The  mind  is  naught,  and  naught  the  heart, 
And  Nature  lies  in  endless  sleep ; 
So  am  I  left  anew  to  weep 

The  shattered  pantheon  of  my  art, — 

To  weep,  till,  eyes  with  weeping  blind, 
A  new  Bellerophon,  I  grope 
The  Aleian  plain  whose  narrow  scope 

But  types  my  blind  and  barriered  mind. 

Like  him  to  course  the  doubled  track, 
But  not,  alas  !  like  him  to  die  ; 
Bruised,  bleeding,  blind,  I  groan  and  sigh,- 

The  Eternal  Silence  answers  back. 


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